From the Jacket: High on the slopes of Mount Eskel, Miri’s family has lived forever, pounding a meager living from the stone of the mountain itself. Miri dreams of working alongside the others in the quarry, but she has never been allowed to work there – perhaps, she thinks, because she is so small.
Then word comes from the lowlands: the king’s priests have divined that the prince’s bride-to-be – the next princess – will come from Mount Eskel. The prince himself will travel to the village to choose his bride, but first all eligible girls must attend a makeshift academy to prepare for royal lowlander life.
At the school, Miri finds herself confronting both bitter competition among the girls and her own conflicted desires to be chosen. Yet when danger comes to the academy it is Miri, named for a tiny mountain flower, who must find a way to save her classmates – and the chance for the future that each of them is eager to secure as her own
Then word comes from the lowlands: the king’s priests have divined that the prince’s bride-to-be – the next princess – will come from Mount Eskel. The prince himself will travel to the village to choose his bride, but first all eligible girls must attend a makeshift academy to prepare for royal lowlander life.
At the school, Miri finds herself confronting both bitter competition among the girls and her own conflicted desires to be chosen. Yet when danger comes to the academy it is Miri, named for a tiny mountain flower, who must find a way to save her classmates – and the chance for the future that each of them is eager to secure as her own